With 2023 off to an impressive start when it comes to the video game industry, Wanted: Dead arrives with the proposal of being a title that recovers the great classics of the PlayStation 2 era. If, on the one hand, we have great releases that focus on innovation and the incredible possibilities of current technology, the Soleil game follows a completely different path, seeming to have with the aim of being practically a tribute to the great games of the past.
The idea is very interesting, the fact that the game hits the market as a possible “PS2 game” today is exciting, as recovering the kind of fun we had in the past is extremely welcome. However, Wanted: Dead has a problem: Nothing works. The game, which is a mixture of shooter with hack and slash, is not able to present any kind of quality that justifies its existence, in many moments even looking like a joke in very bad taste.
What happened here?
The attempt to be a mix between hack and slash and third-person shooting is wasted in every possible way, with the title leaving something to be desired in both proposals, but the problems are not that simple. First of all, it is always good to remember that leaving something to be desired does not necessarily mean sinning in the worst way in what you propose, since not always falling below expectations means reaching the bottom of the step. However, it’s also important to state that in the case of Wanted: Dead it really is this: Rock bottom case.
In the first few minutes there is already a strange feeling that it won’t end well, or rather, it won’t even start. Whether it’s the weird look, flawed character design, or bad acting, you don’t have to think too hard to interpret the opening minutes of the game in the worst possible light. Unfortunately the fear comes true, and in the hours that follow the title never manages to approach any kind of acceptable quality.
plot to forget
The beginning of Wanted: Dead presents a very tense world scenario, with international relations on the verge of collapsing as the world evolves into a cyberpunk future where machines steal space from workers. In these initial minutes, the plot even appears as something that can take interesting paths and present captivating approaches throughout the development, but everything goes away quickly.
In the role of Lieutenant Hannah Stone, we follow a plot that doesn’t seem to work as something robust and also doesn’t find itself as something sloppy. While there seems to be a strong attempt to be an “action B-movie plot”, the game is not able to deliver the positive side of the idea.
The plot, very uninspired and totally clichéd, is predictable and forgettable, which becomes even worse when the characters don’t have the necessary charisma to “hold the rocket”. In this way, there is nothing here that is worth remembering when you finish the campaign and turn off the video game. The scenes still gain a more negative impact with the bad modeling of characters and the weak performances of the cast.
During the hours of your life that you’ll set aside to engage in conflict over the control of the Hong Kong police, you’ll find doing the police’s dirty work to be extremely boring and tiring.
Gameplay not to remember
Playing through the Wanted: Dead tutorial I felt that something wasn’t right, as what was presented to me at this point didn’t seem interesting enough to make the journey fun. At the end of the day, the first impression is what lasts. With two styles of combat, the title lets you defeat enemies with swords in hand-to-hand combat, while the second style offers an approach with firearms.
Starting with the worst, shooting here is a real nightmare. As a third-person shooter, the game has flaws that cannot go unnoticed, including extremely problematic aiming, poor cover, and the strange feeling that your firearms are completely expendable.
The automatic cover sucks, as it often doesn’t work as it should. There were many times when I sought cover on walls or walls and the character continued to be exposed taking damage, which proved to be extremely annoying throughout the campaign. In addition, exchanging shots with opponents is not at all attractive to the player, either because the aim leaves something to be desired or because of the certainty that your bullets cause less damage than they should.
You quickly realize that using firearms, besides boring, is a big waste of time, since your opponents don’t die with several shots, but die with a few attacks from your sword. That is, the big secret is to run madly through the environments cutting anyone who appears in front of you. It will be less troublesome and much more practical.
However, it’s good to remember that as a hack and slash the game also leaves something to be desired since, although you can unlock more possibilities throughout the campaign, your movements are limited and not very interesting. There isn’t a wide variety of moves, and his abilities are forgettable. Combat becomes tiresome and is clearly uninspired, failing to keep the player interested in continuing their journey.
unbalanced and broken
To make its combat worse, Wanted: Dead is extremely unbalanced and broken. There’s also an element here that doesn’t fit with the game’s proposal. The difficulty alone will never be a weak point, after all, the industry is full of games that have the extreme challenge as their greatest feature.
The problem is that in Wanted: Dead the difficulty is imposed by a balance that doesn’t seem to come from the work of an experienced team. It’s surprising to realize just how much the developers got it wrong here. There are enemies that break the game completely, leaving the feeling that the main character’s skills and movements were not planned to face that kind of challenge during the journey. Many times death comes accompanied by the certainty that defeating the enemy is out of your reach if you’re hesitantly looking for the skill… no, it will have to be just luck or something. Finding bullet sponges is also common, including when we talk about bosses.
There doesn’t seem to be any balance in the progression, and it’s out of your reach to achieve some natural evolution of the character to be able to face certain enemies on equal terms, or at least in some way that is more loyal, alias, Wanted: Dead is disloyal . Extremely unfair. It is also important to mention the bad checkpoints that make you return to a moment much earlier than you were, which, alongside the imbalance, is a perfect combo to get the player serious.
Let’s talk about minigames
But, calm down! We have the minigames… yeah! Let’s talk about the minigames since this is the only way to offer the game any kind of praise. Do we have the “salvation of the homeland” here? The answer is obvious: No.
In the end Wanted: Dead can offer some kind of fun with its minigames, presenting some activities that are much more interesting than the main campaign. However, considering such an element as the main positive aspect of the title is extremely unfortunate for obvious reasons.
the verdict
Wanted: Dead could be a game that recovers an era in which games were only concerned with fun and gameplay, without the desire for something greater like great cinematic journeys. However, what we have here is just a totally forgettable title that fails to execute anything acceptably. Or not… we have the minigames!
Wanted: Dead
- Visual ruim
- Bad aim and problematic cover
- bad melee
- It is extremely tiring and boring
Please don’t ever review a game again.